Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Fourteen

"A couple of people?"

"Heh, well —"

"A couple of people?"

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"

While Ron and Luke did just that, I watched with satisfaction as twenty students or so came in through the door of the dingy Hog's Head. Harry had finally agreed to teaching defense, provided that I helped him.

The barman who'd given us our butterbeers had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked like it had never been washed. Possibly he had never seen his pub so full.

"Hi," said Fred, reaching the bar first and counting his companions quickly. "Could we have... twenty-five butterbeers, please?"

The barman glared at him for a moment, then, throwing down his rag irritably like he'd been interrupted in something very important and it wasn't his entire job to serve drinks, he started passing up dusty butterbeers from under the bar.

"Cheers," said Fred, handing them out. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these..."

"Damn, what a turnout," Luke said.

"Language," I mumbled, elbowing him.

"We say Umbitch all the time, and you don't get after me for that."

"Because it's her name, what do you want me to say, Umbridge?"

"Language," Luke chastised, and Ron and I snorted.

Harry, who'd been staring numbly at the crowd as they all pulled out their money to pay for their drinks, rounded on Hermione.

"What have you been telling people?" he demanded in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione soothingly, but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."

"Hi, Harry," said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite Harry.

Harry gave him a smile that looked more like a grimace, and it especially worsened when Cho Chang came in and smiled at him before sitting down on Ron's right. Her friend, who had curly titian blonde hair, didn't smile, but gave us a thoroughly mistrustful look. It was obvious that if it were up to her, neither she nor Cho would've been there.

"Well, this was more popular than I thought it'd be," said Brion as he and Sofia sat down in two chairs to Neville's right. "But isn't it illegal for minors to be in a bar?"

"Alcohol laws are different in Europe," Sofia said. "I think here you can drink at eighteen."

"That's for Muggles, it's seventeen in the Wizarding World," Ron told them. "Though I still think that bartender would sell us firewhiskey if we paid him enough —"

"You — are — a prefect!" Hermione hissed. "We're supposed to set a good example!"

In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around us. Some were looking rather excited, others curious. Fred and George grinned in anticipation; Luna stared dreamily into space, and Ernie Macmillan glanced around pompously, analyzing everyone who'd arrived. Next to him I saw Karl, the boy from Ilvermorny that Lupin had brought to the train station. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was on Harry.

"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well — er — hi."

The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.